Owl for L!

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

Ryuuzaki,

Finished!

If you're not doing anything, wanna come around? I've got something for you.

Matt

Comments

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

Thus, sometime later, there was a knock on the door.

L arrives in time with the latest in the series of elves, bearing food. L is carrying his own cake, though. He didn't ask it to bring any for him, just for Matt. (Though no one's going to drag that little tidbit out of him.)

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Come in!"

Matt's room is... not quite as chaotic as it could be. There are three connected laptops (one sitting at the foot of the bed, the others on the floor just in front) just powering down, plates of half-eaten food, open chip packets, and lots of impromptu ashtrays. Matt himself is standing in the middle of the room. His goggles are pushed up onto his forehead and he's rubbing at his eyes, looking tired but pleased.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"You're done?"

L makes a bit of a face. Matt has obviously been smoking plenty, though not so much sleeping.

"Does your window open? I do not mind nicotine, but it might be best..."

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Shit, sorry --"

Matt jumps across to the other side of the room, opening the window (and pulling the goggles back down as he goes).

"But yeah, all done." At this point he notices the food the house-elf has, and grins, coming to take the plate. "We can go sit in the common room or whatever once I've shown you, if you like."

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"That's alright. I'd like to look at your setup a little longer."

Matt probably knows more about computers than he does, even in his day and age. Learning about modern ones now is probably a smart move.

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Well, hey..."

Matt goes back over to the bed to pick up a fourth laptop. The casement has a short runic inscription carved into it and painted red.

"Combined thank-you and birthday thing, I guess. It's got some lame additions and some neat ones, but - here you go." He holds it out to L.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

L looks down at it, and then up at Matt. And them smiles, with the brightness of one who doesn't get very many presents, so a particularly thoughtful one is just above and beyond.

"You've worked the runes into it? Can you explain what they do? What kind of additions?"

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

The smile makes Matt smile, of course, and he sits cross-legged on the mattress (there's no couch in his room, which is much smaller than L's).

"That one on the front is a bindrune. It should hopefully bring general protection: viruses, hacks, getting lost or stolen or just... I dunno, dropped on the floor. I tried to get it from as many angles as possible. And the firewalls and everything are enhanced too, but that's from tinkering with using runes in the actual programming. I'm trying to get to the point where I can just write entire programs in runes, but it'll take a while." He looks a little embarrassed. "That's the important stuff, anyway. The other things - I needed stuff to do to keep me awake, so..."

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"That alone is very helpful. I do not drop things often, but I may have kittens visiting my room, and they tend to upset everything possible."

L settles down next to him, and puts the laptop on his knees so he can open it. Password protected.

"Oh. How do I get in?" He could crack it if he wanted to, but Matt's right here.

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"A's kittens?" Matt asks, grinning. "And the password's 'atari', but that's just until you decide your own."

Matt watches L's face for a reaction as the laptop loads. Especially when the screensaver turns out to be a picture of a rather elaborate looking cheesecake. A cheesecake that is apparently playing Edith Piaf songs.

He'd gotten a bit sleep-deprived.

"You can turn it off by clicking one of the strawberries," he adds after a moment.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

He has to turn it off one handed, knees raised slightly so that it doesn't fall, because the other hand is pressed over his mouth to catch his laughter, which lingers even after 'Milord' has been successfully turned off. Sleep deprived though Matt may have been, L transparently likes it, quite a lot.

It's personalized, in ways that a new Dostoevsky novel never will be. And cheesecake, and Edith Piaf.

"A's kittens. Good heavens, Matt."

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"So it's okay? I mean, you can put other stuff onto the playlist as well. And I figured you could probably use another computer."

He can see that L likes it, but he's still (for some reason) a little anxious about the whole thing. Probably a little wound up from the job he's just completed.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I like it. Very much." His fingers linger on the keys, on the side of the case, tracing imaginary patterns on it. "It will be most useful, and." And he likes it. Like he said, very much. He's aware that his reaction is probably ridiculous, so he clamps down on it, hard.

"I. Did your job go well?"

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Awesome," Matt says, looking pleased now. He notices that L seems to be hesitating a little as he speaks, but... well, he probably doesn't get many presents. Besides, he's too tired to make much of it.

"Pretty well. I ran into different complications than the ones I expected, but, y'know. That's the way it goes." He starts on the fries. "Anything exciting happened while I've been holed up?"

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"N-not really." Take a deep breath and consider the question logically, L. "I spoke some more with the new divination professor, who seems both sociable and... philosophical. He asked me to attempt to pressure you into attending his class, in much politer terms."

Obviously, those were not the words Kusuriyuri used, but close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

Matt laughs. "I was thinking about it. I probably will, actually, it's not like we get a lot of them. And he seems like an interesting guy. Are you going to go?"

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I will." Despite the balance vs tact discussion they had, L did like him, quite a lot. "I think, unless I happen to be sleeping at that moment. I need to adopt something approaching a normal pattern, otherwise I am going to begin missing things. I have never before been in an environment where it mattered."

He looks Matt over.

"You look tired."

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"I am. I don't really feel like sleeping, though. I need to be away from screens for a little while first."

Three days solid in front of a computer is a bit much, even for Matt.

"So you don't have any pattern at all? Or is it just a really weird one?"

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Every fifty hours or so, if I am pushing it, which... I confess, I usually am. How long, that depends on what I have been doing. I slept quite well after flying, I usually sleep well after sparring. Anywhere between three and fifteen hours at a time."

When has anything about L ever been normal.

"Would you like to go flying, perhaps? I could steer, right now I do not trust you not to hit a tree, and you could probably use a bit of... of whatever that is." Rush. Sky.

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Flying would be awesome." He'd actually been sort of tempted to try, but even Matt's aware of how dangerous that could be.

Scratch that. He's always aware of the dangers. It's just that normally he doesn't really care, or is on the ball enough to bring the risk down.

"So are you going to try to sleep more often? Or just... so that it doesn't clash with anything?" He stands up, stretching.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. I will probably resolve to, and then abandon the idea in short order."

He's got no real motivation to pursue it, so...

"Can I leave my computer in your room in the mean time? We can be straight off."

L is even wearing his tennis shoes and sweater. (It was a cold morning, according to his internal temperature.)

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Sure. You'll just have to remember to pick it up on our way back in."

Matt opens a drawer and pulls out a spare pair of goggles, grinning at L. "Here's hoping they fit."

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I hope so." He pulls the door open, and holds it for Matt.

"You were the one who got us the broom last time, so you will have to show me where."

[gamerspy.livejournal.com]

"Down in the grounds... it's a stadium, or something. I'm not sure what the sport would be, but it must be played on brooms."

In the corridor, Matt begins to realise how tired he actually is. Still, damned if he's going straight to bed. Especially now that they're going flying.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Quidditch. I have been reading about it. It is rather complicated."

L starts explaining the rules as they set off on the walk down to the grounds. It's a surprisingly large castle, but Quidditch is a surprisingly complicated sport.